Electrical and Controls Project Manager

Electrical & Controls Project Manager
Compensation: $145,000-$165,000 base salary + bonus
Full-Time | Tampa, FL Preferred | Houston, TX Considered
Company Overview
Our client is a fast-growing, privately held industrial building materials and logistics company with a rapidly expanding U.S. footprint. The company is investing heavily in new industrial facilities, terminal expansions, and material handling infrastructure to support continued growth across multiple markets.
The Projects Team functions as the company's in-house engineering, procurement, and construction group. This team leads capital projects from concept through design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and startup. Projects include large-scale industrial terminal builds, marine import facilities, rail and barge terminal infrastructure, storage and handling systems, plant expansions, and continuous improvement projects across active operating sites.
Position Overview
The Electrical & Controls Project Manager will own the electrical, controls, automation, and instrumentation scope for complex industrial capital projects. This role is highly technical and requires someone who can operate across the full lifecycle of an electrical and controls project, including design input, third-party engineering coordination, procurement, field installation, testing, troubleshooting, startup, and commissioning.
This is not a commercial construction, residential, or purely administrative project management role. The right candidate will have strong industrial electrical and controls experience and be comfortable working directly with engineers, vendors, contractors, project managers, and field teams. The company needs someone who can be trusted to step in, understand the work, drive decisions, solve problems, and help reduce the current dependency on a small number of internal electrical/controls experts.
The ideal candidate is technically strong, highly accountable, hands-on when needed, and energized by industrial engineering and construction environments. This person should bring a high standard of work, strong follow-through, and the ability to support a fast-growing project team where priorities can shift and critical project phases may require extra effort.
Location
Tampa, FL preferred. Houston, TX may also be considered for a strong candidate. This is not a fully remote role. Travel to project sites will be required based on project phase and business needs.
Key Responsibilities

• Lead the electrical, controls, automation, and instrumentation scope for industrial capital projects from early design through commissioning and startup.
• Manage and support the design, installation, optimization, troubleshooting, and enhancement of industrial electrical power distribution systems, process controls, automation systems, and monitoring systems.
• Serve as an owner-side technical lead with third-party engineering firms.
• Drive design intent, review technical drawings, provide comments, challenge assumptions, and ensure designs meet the company's operational and project requirements.
• Develop, review, and manage technical documentation, including bills of material, process diagrams, control narratives, P&IDs, SCADA block diagrams, control schematics, panel designs, instrument data sheets, wiring drawings, cable routing plans, and network architecture.
• Support LAN/WAN integration for PLC, HMI, SCADA, monitoring systems, software platforms, and data management solutions within existing and new infrastructure.
• Provide technical oversight for PLC, HMI, SCADA, instrumentation, automation, and controls programming.
• Bring direct programming experience or, at minimum, a strong understanding of how industrial automation programs work and how they interact with the physical process.
• Manage selection, specification, integration, and troubleshooting of sensors and field instrumentation such as cameras, encoders, pressure transmitters, limit switches, level sensors, proximity sensors, and other process monitoring devices.
• Coordinate with electrical and instrumentation contractors to ensure correct field installation of electrical cabinets, PLC panels, control cabinets, sensors, instrumentation, cables, terminations, motors, and related equipment.
• Lead or support factory acceptance testing, user acceptance testing, field testing, motor testing, system verification, startup, commissioning, and troubleshooting of electrical power distribution and controls systems.
• Manage electrical and controls project scope, schedule, budget, risks, documentation, contractor performance, and reporting in partnership with the broader project management and project controls team.
• Work cross-functionally with mechanical, structural, civil, electrical, controls, automation, software, operations, procurement, and construction teams to complete projects safely, on time, and within budget.
• Provide practical field support when needed, including walking jobsites, identifying issues, making decisions, and helping resolve installation, sequencing, or commissioning problems.
• Support and mentor junior engineers or project team members as the team continues to grow.

Non-Negotiable / Must-Have Experience

• Strong industrial electrical and controls background.
• Experience with electrical systems, controls, automation, and instrumentation in industrial, manufacturing, processing, heavy industrial, or material handling environments.
• Experience with industrial power distribution, including design, procurement, installation, and commissioning of electrical power distribution systems for industrial facilities.
• Experience with controls and automation, including PLC, HMI, SCADA, instrumentation, automation logic, control systems, and industrial network integration.
• Experience with field installation and commissioning, including electrical installation, cable routing, terminations, instrumentation installation, cabinet installation, motor testing, system testing, startup, and commissioning.
• Experience managing third-party engineering firms, vendors, contractors, and field teams.
• Ability to drive design and execution through external partners rather than simply relying on others to make decisions.
• Experience working in an industrial environment. Commercial office, residential, interiors, retail, or light commercial construction experience will not be sufficient for this role.
• Project lifecycle exposure from design and procurement through construction, testing, startup, and handover.
• Strong problem-solving ability, including the ability to diagnose technical issues, troubleshoot in the field, evaluate design or installation problems, and determine practical solutions.
• High ownership and accountability.
• Ability to operate without constant direction, make decisions, follow through, and take responsibility for outcomes.
• Strong work ethic and flexibility.
• Understanding that critical project phases may require extra effort, urgency, and a willingness to do what it takes to get the job done safely and correctly.

Preferred Industry Background

• Cement
• Lime
• Aggregates
• Mining
• Mineral processing
• Gypsum
• Bulk material handling
• Heavy industrial manufacturing
• Industrial terminals
• Process plants
• Refineries
• Oil and gas
• Petrochemical
• Similar industrial environments
• Experience with powdered bulk solids, material handling systems, storage, conveyors, rail/barge/marine terminals, or industrial import/export facilities is highly preferred.
• Oil and gas or refinery experience may be considered strong if the candidate has broad electrical, controls, automation, and industrial project exposure rather than a narrow role on one small portion of a large project.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, Controls Engineering, or a related engineering field preferred.
• Trade school background may be considered if paired with extensive, directly relevant industrial electrical and controls experience.
• 12+ years of related experience preferred, with significant experience in industrial electrical, controls, automation, instrumentation, startup, and commissioning.
• Experience in cement, lime, aggregates, mining, gypsum, mineral processing, bulk material handling, or similar industrial environments is highly preferred.
• Experience with PLC logic and process controls.
• Familiarity with Allen Bradley, Siemens, Modicon, Client Fanuc, Automation Direct, Omron, or similar PLC platforms is preferred.
• Experience with HMI or SCADA programming, configuration, or system oversight.
• Familiarity with Wonderware, Rockwell, Client, Siemens, or similar platforms is preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge of electrical system installation, including cable routing, terminations, instrumentation, sensor installation, cabinets, panels, and motor testing.
• Experience with factory acceptance testing, user acceptance testing, field testing, commissioning, and startup of electrical power distribution and PLC/control systems.
• Experience with industrial network infrastructure, data monitoring solutions, process control systems, and integration with broader facility systems.
• PMP certification is preferred but not required.
• Professional Engineer license is a plus but not required.

Ideal Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is technically credible, practical, accountable, and comfortable operating in a growing team where not every process is fully built out yet. This person should be able to work with a high-performing electrical/controls leader, earn trust quickly, and take meaningful workload off the existing team.
The company is looking for someone who values integrity, excellence, hard work, and passion for the engineering and construction process. The right person will care about the quality of the work, hold contractors accountable without losing composure, own mistakes instead of pointing fingers, and bring genuine curiosity for how industrial systems are designed, built, and commissioned.
This role is best suited for someone who enjoys being close to the technical details, likes solving real field problems, and takes pride in building complex industrial facilities safely and correctly.